Dora Road Reopened After Paving Project

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Highway 64, also known as Dora Road was closed for Thursday (Sept. 5) as crews paved a portion of it near the railroad tracks. It’s part of a project that will continue at railroad crossings throughout the area.

Union Pacific says over the next several weeks, they’ll be repaving the road at every railroad crossing between Van Buren and Gore, Okla. It’s an effort to make the driver smoother and safer. That adds up to about 200 projects.

“We’re working on the crossing here,” said Richard Guardiola with Road Safe Traffic Systems. “What they’ve done is tear out the old crossing here. They’ve moved the debris out and they’ve put in hot mix and they’re rolling it out right now and compacting it down.”

The work kept Dora Road, a popular alternative to Interstate 540 for those traveling between Van Buren and Fort Smith, closed for much of the day. Interstate 540 is still under construction as part of a project to replace bridges and overpasses. Drivers were left with a long and slow morning commute.

But drivers weren’t the only ones diverted. All of the trains that use the portion of the track on Dora Road also had to find different routes.